The Lore of Prometheus

Hello Everyone.

Today, I am joining the Blog Tour for The Lore of Prometheus by Graham Austin King. The winner of the BBNYA (Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award) 2020. 

BBNYA is brought to you in association with the Folio Society (If you love beautiful books you NEED to check out their website!) And the book blogger support group TheWriteReads.

So, on to the book!

Book Description

John Carver has three rules: Don't drink in the daytime, don't gamble when the luck has gone, and don't talk to the dead people who come to visit.

It has been almost five years since the incident in Kabul. Since the magic stirred within him and the stories began. Fleeing the army, running from the whispers, the guilt, and the fear he was losing his mind, Carver fell into addiction, dragging himself through life one day at a time.

Desperation has pulled him back to Afghanistan, back to the heat, the dust, and the truth he worked so hard to avoid. But there are others, obsessed with power and forbidden magics, who will stop at nothing to learn the truth of his gifts. Abducted and chained, Carver must break more than his own rules if he is to harness this power and survive

Review

I have to say from the outset that I liked The Lore of Prometheus from the first page. John Carver immediately sucked me in with his droll narration of the situation that he found himself in. 

Looking at other reviews, I have seen it described as Urban Fantasy, Military Fantasy, but personally I haven’t got a clue how to categorise this thriller that has characters that have extra sensory powers. If you are coming to this expecting something like the Dresden Files, then I suggest you leave that coat at the door and step into Graham Austin King’s The lore of Prometheus with a whole new mindset. 

It’s a long time since I read a book like this. It definitely falls into the thriller end of things and starts with our titular hero, John Carver down on his luck at the gambling tables, owing money to loan sharks, and pretty much in Shitsville. 

He is ex - military and his only skill is geared towards these kind of jobs. Down on his luck, owing money to some pretty hard arsed loan sharks and experiencing some pretty bad PTSD, he gets himself a job babysitting a foreign national in Karbul, Afghanistan. Not a good place to be as John Carver did many tours there, and it has left him changed. In more ways than one! 

As a child of the seventies, I was about ten when the incident with the Iranian Embassy occurred and used to devour books about the SAS and other types of thrillers that had a military edge (it does so happen that this incident is mentioned in the book), so The Lore of Prometheus was right up my alley. 

However, at times , I did get some whiffs of british noir type feelings to it. Particularly in the beginning when the book is based in England. It  gave me a Get Carter kind of tone, and I think that that might have been down to its main character. However, the book changes as the story progresses. Especially when the setting moves to Kabul and the main character takes a job as a security advisor and then changes again when it gets to the final act of the book.

The book revolves around two main characters, John Carver and Mackenzie, and we see the action through both of these characters' eyes, but in different ways. In John's case, we see the story occurring through his eyes in the first person, whilst the viewpoint shifts when we come to Mackenzie and the viewpoint moves to the third person. This is something that I have seen in a number of books recently, and I found that Graham Austin King pulled this off effectively, and it added to the whole feel of the book. 

I have to mention that Graham Austin King writes so perfectly in The Lore of Prometheus. I was so impressed with so many things. He manages to keep the pace maintained throughout the book. Never once did I feel a lull in the story. When it comes to Mackenzie’s storyline he effectively highlights the disorientation that the character is experiencing, drip feeding little bits of information to both the reader and the character, maintaining the tension of her imprisonment. 

With a book like this, there is a temptation for authors to give big info dumps about military life and weapons etc, but Austin King successfully dodges these temptations and gives the necessary information as part of the story rather than risk derailing the plot with big info dumps. He introduces just the right amount of humour, particularly the scene with the discussion on IKEA meatballs, which I found hilarious. 

His characters have depth and are distinguished. And particularly, when the bad guys are introduced, they don’t fall into parody, but are realistic and nuanced. Even the members of Carver’s squad have their own individuality and are intrinsic to the plot. 

Additionally, Austin - King manages to convey the richness of the world that the story is based in. At parts I was having to take my jumper off because I was getting too hot at his descriptions of the oppressive heat of Kabul.

If you like your fantasy hard boiled, your characters harder and a plot that is full of pace, you can’t go wrong with The Lore of Prometheus.

I received this book to read and review as part of the BBNYA 2020 competition and/or the BBNYA tours organised by the @The_WriteReads tours team. All opinions are my own, unbiased and honest. 

 

About the Author

Graham Austin-King was born in the south of England and weaned on broken swords and half-forgotten spells.

A shortage of these forced him to consume fantasy novels at an ever-increasing rate, turning to computers and tabletop gaming between meals.

He experimented with writing at the beginning of an education that meandered through journalism, international relations, and law. To this day he is committed to never allowing those first efforts to reach public eyes.

After spending a decade in Canada learning what ‘cold’ really means, and being horrified by poutine, he settled once again in the UK with a seemingly endless horde of children.

To date he is the author of five novels, drawing on a foundation of literary influences ranging from David Eddings to Clive Barker.

If you interested in the BBNYA, here is some more info, for both bloggers and authors and how you can get involved.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors. 

If you are an author and wish to learn more about the 2021 BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website (https://www.bbnya.com/) or our Twitter account, @BBNYA_Official. If you would like to sign-up and enter your book, you can find the BBNYA 2021 AUTHOR SIGN UP FORM HERE Please make sure to carefully read our terms and conditions before entering. 

If you are a book blogger or reviewer, you can apply to be part of BBNYA 2021 by filling out this form (also remember to read the terms and conditions before signing up)!